News Anchor Nancy Parker Killed in New Orleans Plane Crash: 'Her Absence Creates a Void'
Community members in New Orleans are mourning the death of beloved news anchor Nancy Parker, who died in a plane crash on Friday while working on a story. She was 53.
Parker, a journalist with local station WVUE FOX 8 News for 23 years, was shooting a story in a stunt plane with pilot Franklin J.P. Augustus, who also died in the crash, the outlet reported on Friday.
A fire broke out after the plane went down, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, WVUE reported, and the Federal Aviation Administration is conducting an investigation into the crash.
“Today we mourn the loss of our longtime colleague and friend Nancy Parker,” the station said in a statement obtained by local NBC station WDSU. “Details have not been released by authorities, but we can confirm she passed away in a plane crash while covering a story at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport.”
Parker was remembered as “a joy to work with each and every day” by FOX 8 Vice President and General Manager Tim Ingram, per WDSU.
“Today we lost a wonderful journalist and remarkable friend, the New Orleans television community lost a true treasure, but beyond that, her family lost a wife, a mother and daughter,” he continued. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
“Nancy was a part of the FOX 8 family for the last 23 years, she put her heart and soul into her work, covering thousands of stories and touching countless lives,” Ingram added. “She made a difference in the lives of those she reported on. She will be sorely missed, and her absence creates a void that cannot be filled.”
Parker is survived by her three kids and husband Glen Boyd, who is a Public Informations Officer at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
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“Nancy was known to all in the Greater New Orleans area as a trusted voice, and she will be missed,” the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office tells PEOPLE. “Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the entire Parker and Boyd families, Nancy’s co-workers at WVUE, and everyone in the local media and public whose lives she touched.”
City Council President Helena Moreno said that Parker’s tragic death is a “tremendous loss.”
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“Nancy was a mother, wife, accomplished journalist and community leader,” Moreno said in a statement to WVUE. “I worked on stories along side Nancy during my time as a reporter. She was the utmost professional, so incredibly kind, funny and genuine. I am so saddened and shocked. Sending my deepest condolences to her family and Fox 8 family.”
“She will be dearly missed by the community that she reported on every day and cared so much about,” she added.
Other journalists and community members expressed their grief at Parker’s death, remembering the news anchor as “a cornerstone to New Orleans news,” and as a reporter who told “stories that mattered to the people of our state.”
